He poured a glass of wine for her. “Most parents are at work, especially on a Friday. So you will go, enjoy the activities, the twins will be happy to have you there which is why I have employed you in the first place.”
“I’m not sure they will be happy to see me there or anywhere,” she said.
“I suppose you are referring to the snake in your bed.”
“You knew?”
“I assumed. I liked the way you handled it, even though the girls must have been disappointed you didn’t come screaming from your room in the middle of the night.”
“Screaming? Surely the other nannies…”
“Some of them screamed, some merely packed up and left the next day.”
If that was true, no wonder he appreciated her, and appreciation from her employer was surely a step in the right direction, now if only the girls…
Vittorio smoothly changed the subject as he’d done before and distracted her enough to enjoy the savory soup with slivers of porcini mushrooms which he explained were found in the forest around the lake.
“My brother and I used to hunt for mushrooms then sell them to the cooks from the other villas until my father caught us and told us that princes didn’t engage in commerce. That was when I decided I didn’t want to be a prince if that’s what it meant. I was determined to go into business for myself, make money and not rest on an inheritance or on the past.”
Sabrina could just picture the prince as a small, determined boy, going against family tradition to do just as he pleased. He hadn’t changed much.
“I assume your parents finally came around to agree with you when they saw that you became a success.”
“In some ways. Except for my choice of a bride. They never approved of Maddelena. It turns out they were right.”
Sabrina blinked rapidly at this piece of information. She wanted to ask a follow-up question or two but Vittorio changed the subject again and was back to his childhood when he spent summers sailing on the lake.
“I still have a boat, but unfortunately I have no time for sailing or other sports right now. Actually I haven’t sailed for years.” He had a faraway look in his eyes that made her wonder if he’d sailed with his wife and was afraid to go again for fear of bringing back memories of a happier time.
“I went sailing once with friends in San Francisco Bay,” Sabrina said. “But when the boat went out onto the open sea I was terribly seasick. I’m sure you’re happy to know the girls are learning to sail since it must have been a wonderful way to spend your childhood.”
Just then the polenta arrived, creamy and rich studded with earthy truffles.
“Yes, I sailed some of the time, but my childhood passion was to look for ways to make money. I don’t see any such tendencies in my daughters. In fact, I don’t see any of my characteristics in them. I sometimes wonder if we’re related at all.”
“Maybe because you don’t see much of them,” she suggested.
“Maybe,” he said, but she could tell he didn’t buy her explanation. “My brother and I were always interested in earning money to my father’s dismay. He thought it was unbecoming for the descendents of royalty, but we looked hard and long for truffles when we heard what a price they could fetch until we found out one needs a pig to dig for them.
“We gave that up and took up a new job which was carrying luggage for tourists who disembarked from the ferry. We had a small wagon and the tips were quite generous as I recall. Again my father stepped in and put a halt to our small business. ‘Not suitable work for the Monteverde Family.’” A half smile crossed his face at the memory. Again Sabrina pictured an energetic small boy with the prince’s determination, meeting the passenger ferries just as he’d met hers yesterday.
“What about you, Ms West, because you became a nanny, do I assume your first employment consisted in caring for children?”
“As a teenager I did a lot of baby-sitting, yes. I enjoyed it. I prided myself on doing more than just sitting. I invented games, told stories and made up plays to act out. I always loved animals too, though I wasn’t allowed to have a pet, I volunteered at the children’s petting zoo.”
“Any snakes on display?”
She smiled. “A few. As an only child, I craved an opportunity to be with small children and perhaps I also liked being in charge and giving orders.” She paused. “Actually when my father remarried, I was technically no longer an only child because I inherited two step-sisters, but it isn’t the same as…well, we’ve never been close, my step-sisters and I.”
Sabrina didn’t know how they’d gotten onto this subject. She didn’t normally discuss Mindy and Jessica. They weren’t really a part of her life since she’d gone to college and moved out of the house. She preferred to forget how they’d treated her when she was young. Many of her friends had no idea they even existed. It was easier than explaining why she didn’t think of them as family. Her family was gone. There was no one left.
She wished she could tell Vittorio how lucky he was to have a brother to grow up with and to have the twins now. She wanted to tell him the childhood years are brief and fleeting and he should make the most of them. He wouldn’t listen. He wouldn’t believe her and she wasn’t sure why except that his wife died seven years ago and his parents hadn’t approved of her. Which led to his leaving the girls for others to care for.
Despite his referring to Sabrina as his servant, the lunch conversation took a pleasant turn after that almost as if they were friends lunching together and getting caught up, and the food was deliciously different from anything she’d ever tasted, especially the warm chocolate tarte he ordered for dessert with sliced strawberries on top with a dollop of whipped cream. When she licked her spoon, she thought she saw a glimmer of amusement in his eyes at her childish gesture. Then he reached for her hand and said, “You like it?”
The touch of his hand sent a wave of heat to her cheeks. For just a moment she might have fooled herself into thinking this was a date, a romantic lunch a deux, but it wasn’t. She had to remind herself over and over who he was and who she was. This was business. She’d helped him out and he was returning the favor. But his hand was still holding hers, warm and firm. Until a young couple on their way out of the restaurant, stopped at their table. Vittorio withdrew his hand from Sabrina’s.
When he introduced them to Sabrina they switched to English. “So good to see you, Vittorio. I heard you got engaged.” Both the man and woman looked at Sabrina.
Vittorio nodded while Sabrina felt her cheeks redden. Why didn’t he tell them she was not the one? What could she say?
He is engaged, but not to me?
Or should she explain by saying,
I’m only his nanny
.
Just a servant, you know.
Instead she said nothing and neither did he. Finally after they left, she said, “I’m afraid they may have gotten the wrong impression.”
He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It might matter to your fiancée.”
“That I’m having lunch with my daughters’ nanny? I doubt it.”
“No, of course not,” she said quickly. Sabrina realized that to him this was an impersonal business lunch. It was a good lesson. No matter what she was wearing or where she was seen with Vittorio, she was only the nanny. “But things may be different after you’re married.”
He frowned and didn’t say much after that. Why would the thought of his marriage send him into a funk?
As the reached the car after they’d had coffee with dessert, the skies opened up as promised for the afternoon storm. Sabrina admired Vittorio’s capable hands on the wheel and his driving skill as he navigated the twisting mountain roads as the rain beat down on the windshield. She could still feel the warmth of his touch at the table.
It won’t happen again,
she told herself.
Stop fantasizing about your employer.
“We made it,” he said with a sideways glance at Sabrina. “Without getting wet this time.”
A streak of lightning split the sky overhead and a few seconds later a loud clap of thunder rolled. Sabrina shivered, glad to be inside. Vittorio reached for her hand again. This time he held it tightly. There was no one to see. No one who knew he was engaged to someone else. No one but her. “Don’t be afraid.”
“I’m not,” she said breathlessly. She wasn’t afraid of the storm. She was afraid of the man in the car with her. The man whose touch made her feel like she’d been struck by lightning.
“I remember what you said, ‘A dramatic performance courtesy of Mother Nature,’” she said.
“You remember that?” he asked with a sideways glance at her.
“It was only a few days ago.”
“It seems as though you’ve been here longer. You’ve managed to fit in where no one else has. How have you done that Ms West? What is your secret?”
With his hand holding hers she was at a loss for words. Her throat was too tight to speak. The rain drumming on the roof of the car kept time with the rapid beat of her heart. It was just gratitude, she told herself. It meant nothing except she’d helped him out of a hard situation. Inside the car it was just the two of them. The world was out there somewhere in the mist, but all that counted was the two of them inside the car, breathing the same air, hands together, driving somewhere. It didn’t matter where.
The air-conditioning was turned on in the car, but the heat was mounting, generated by their eye contact every other moment. She glanced at him, then looked out the window, afraid of the passion she saw in his eyes. Afraid she was wrong. How could it be? How could he care for her that way? He didn’t know her, she didn’t know him. And yet, and yet…
She was afraid of being trapped, of getting caught in a fantasy, believing that he liked her more than as a nanny. Not as a nanny at all, but as a desirable woman.
It was the storm. It was the car. They were alone, together in a cocoon. The world was out there somewhere, but they were inside, warm, dry and safe, just the two of them. The ride went on and on and yet it was over too soon.
By the time they arrived back at the villa, the rain had stopped. Vittorio got out and the mood was broken. The fresh air was like a slap in the face. A dose of reality. He opened her door, thanked her again and went to his office. As if nothing had happened. For him, it hadn’t. She felt like she’d hit a bump on a smooth highway and smashed her head on the roof of the car. Just what she needed.
He didn’t ask what she would do next or make any suggestions. Why should he? A nanny is never at a loss for something to do. She ran up the stairs in search of some job to do, something to take her mind off Vittorio.
In the twins’ fairy tale room she found the catalog from the Academy in Florence. Every thing was in perfect order there. After all, they had a the staff to maintain such perfection. No need for those girls to pick up a single item from the floor when someone else was paid to do it for them.
Then she went to her suite to gather up the books she’d brought along to use for the girls’ instruction. Everything was in perfect order there too, her clothes had been pressed, her bathroom full of clean towels and a selection of lotions and soaps. How would she ever adapt to real life after this kind of luxury? After changing into one-piece maillot, she wrapped herself in the robe hanging in the bathroom and headed for the pool. As far as she knew no one was using it and she’d be alone. A perfect place to enjoy the ambience, the sun and get some work done. The kind of work she was trained and hired to do. Preparing children for life in the big world, whether it was prep school or a prestigious academy.
As soon as she’d taken off her robe and seated herself in a deck chair under a large umbrella, a maid appeared to ask what she would like to drink.